It is known to provide users connected via a computer terminal to a computer network with details of the network connection status of other users similarly connected. Applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/791,437, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for providing a user with the network address, network connection status, and availability status of one or more users, to enable them, for example, to initiate a point to point connection with each other.
Public telephone systems, as presently constituted, generally only provide the status of a telephone at the time one attempts to establish a connection with it. Thus, one gets a busy signal, call waiting signal, or a ringing tone, etc. Some telephone carriers provide a service whereby a person who calls another party and receives a busy signal will be alerted when the telephone number called becomes available, but again status information is provided conditionally on having dialed a number previously. The ability to get an on-line report on the status of one or more telephone numbers automatically, or of receiving the logical status set by a user regarding his availability for a telephone call, as separate from its actual physical status, independent of the need to try to call the desired number, does not exist today among telephone carriers or telephone devices connected to the public telephone system, or the telephone line at home (as opposed to the carrier), or among telephone owners today. However, in general, all the necessary information exists or can be acquired, and can be made available by telephone carriers, by a telephone device which is connected to the system, or the telephone line at home which is connected to the public system, or by the telephone owner. PABXs and other specialized telephony systems such as call centers, telephony help desks, or Automatic Call Distribution Systems do posses the possibility of getting the status of their extensions, but while this information may be available to users connected to such systems by various known methods, it is not available to seeking users of the general public who are not subscribers or extensions of such systems.